The students of rural and peripheral areas of Pakistan are protesting against the decision of Pakistani universities to initiate online classes due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
Rural communities with poor to little broadband Internet access are stuck in digital deserts with no way to ride out the situation. They are suffering from every angle, no education, no food, and no employment. The rural area’s students have been protesting and raising their concerns.
The students argued that most of them belonged to the remote rural areas, where internet facility is too poor to attend the online classes. The protestors even termed the online classes as discriminatory against the students living in such areas of Pakistan.
Few students also complained about the private universities charging extraordinary fees from them, and in return, they are teaching them on the internet. It has been observed that students in remote areas lack internet facilities and are forced to travel to places with the facility to attend online lectures.
Students of rural areas have no internet Facilities and the second option is internet packages? why they spent alot of money on packages while they have submitted their fees.
please think about them.
Online education is not the Solution in these days.#HEC_StopOnlineClasses pic.twitter.com/2vrzSqcIAf— Umer Amin (@Umerumi55) April 7, 2020
#IUIC What about those students who moved to their hometowns and villages ? Even the People don't have access to stable call connections, so how can you expect students in rural areas to participate in Online Education ?#SayNoToOnlineClasses#BanOnlineClasses#COVID2019
— Jinsar Ali Jamro (@JamroJinsar) April 3, 2020
Why are they asked to Drop the subject when the Fees are already PAID ? Even the People in cities Don't have stable internet, so how can you Expect students in Rural areas to Participate in Online Education?#SuspendOnlineClassesArid@ImranKhanPTI@Shafqat_Mahmood@HamidMirPAK
— Ghulam Mujtaba (@mujt_181) April 1, 2020
Following the government’s decision to close the universities across Pakistan due to the spread of deadly coronavirus. The universities decided to continue the courses of students through online classes – that is now being criticized widely.
President Alvi directs authorities to improve internet connectivity
President Dr Arif Alvi recently ordered authorities to improve internet accessibility for students in the country. He directed the relevant quarters to take necessary measures to enhance internet connectivity so that students could continue their education uninterrupted.
In addition to this, he also instructed agencies to improve internet coverage in areas that currently lack the facility.
Still, the students who belong to the under-developed areas are facing huge trouble in taking online classes. Universities are also not considering their request to stop online lectures. They are having an education crisis as well as the financial crisis as they still have to pay fees for their [unattended] classes.
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) on the other hand, is also clueless about the possible solution to this problem. They said that they are still figuring out what can be done for the students who belong to remote areas.
It’s been many days since students have been complaining and protesting against the education system of Pakistan. Still, no action has been taken to facilitate the students.
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